Kill the redwoods, save the solar panels

Sunnyvale couple first in state to be convicted under Solar Shade Control Act. They must cut down their redwood trees so the shade will not blok a neighbor's solar panels. File this one under "looney left vs looney left."

Richard Treanor and Carolynn Bissett own a Prius and consider themselves environmentalists. But they refuse to cut down any of the trees behind their house on Benton Street, saying they've done nothing wrong.

"We're just living here in peace. We want to be left alone," said Bissett, who with her husband has spent $25,000 defending themselves against criminal charges. "We support solar power, but we thought common sense would prevail."

Their neighbor Mark Vargas considers himself an environmentalist too. His 10-kilowatt solar system that he installed in 2001 is so big he pays only about $60 a year in electrical bills. He drives an electric car.

Vargas said he first asked Treanor and Bissett to chop down the eight redwoods, which the couple had planted between 1997 and 1999 along the fence separating their yards. Later he asked them to trim the trees to about 15 feet.

"I offered to pay for the removal of the trees. I said 'let's try to work something out,'" Vargas said. "They said no to everything."

He installed the panels.

After several years of squabbling and failed mediation, Vargas filed a complaint with the Santa Clara County district attorney ... (more)

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Comments

[Tekla Perry]

Just looking at global warming, the solar panels win, see the calculations at http://blogs.spectrum.ieee.org/tech_talk/2008/04/solar_energy_or_growing_trees.html

[A.C. McCloud]

That's delicious. Almost as delicious as Hillary suggesting the FL and MI primary totals should be added to her total!